I realize that teams and their fan bases take little pride in moral victories in the long run. However, for THIS Georgia Bulldog (10-15, 1-11) team in THIS season, the Dawgs and their supporters should take some solace from last night’s effort against the #19 LSU Tigers.

UGA went toe-to-toe with an LSU team that had just knocked off #5 Kentucky at Rupp earlier in the week. With 29 seconds remaining in this contest, Georgia had an opportunity to tie the game. Instead, Nic Claxton elected to drive it at the rim, and his shot sailed over the basket, but the point is that the Dawgs were still in it with less than a minute remaining against a squad that is now tied with Tennessee for 1st place in the conference.

Tom Crean’s team’s most glaring weaknesses this year have been turnovers and inconsistent defense, yet on Saturday both of those shortcomings were relatively unnoticeable. The Dawgs committed only 11 turnovers, and even though those led to 17 Tiger points, for a Georgia team that’s been giving it away 15 times a night in conference play, this felt like a “win”.

Sure, LSU put up 83 points in its win over UGA, but guess what? They’ve been doing that to just about everybody. The Tigers are netting over 85 points a game in league play, so if you’re a “glass is half full” kind of person you could see this as a minor victory for the Georgia defense as the Dawgs held the Tigers under their SEC average in points.

LSU coach Will Wade seemingly has a never-ending supply of 6’10”-ish bigs he can run into the game, which is probably why his team leads the SEC in offensive boards per contest at over 14 a clip. The Tigers’ big men attacked the glass ferociously Saturday night, and it yielded 19 second-chance points for LSU, but Georgia had 18 points of that variety themselves.

This Tiger roster is far more talented than the current one that Tom Crean is working with. LSU has three guards in Tremont Waters, Skylar Mars and Ja’Vonte Smart that can all instantly create offense off the dribble; UGA doesn’t have anyone this year who can do that (aside from Jordan Harris, at times). Crean mixed in some 2-3 zone with his base man defense in an effort to slow down Waters, but the SEC’s best point guard got his 20 points. Smart, who is an absolute luxury for Wade to bring off the bench, torched the Dawgs for 19 points as he attacked the rim relentlessly. Luckily for Georgia, Mars, who nets over 13 ppg, was limited to just 6 on Saturday.

Despite the disparity in talent level between these two teams, Georgia hung with this Tiger team for nearly 40 minutes. UGA shot over 47% from the floor and had four players finish in double-figures in a game that featured 7 lead changes.

The Dawgs didn’t look like a team that was in the midst of a 9-game conference losing streak on Saturday. They didn’t back down in a game against a ranked opponent, when that certainly was an option. In the end, UGA came up 4 points short to the Tigers, but Georgia basketball fans have to take some satisfaction in the effort this Bulldog team showed in what has otherwise been a forgettable season.

Jordan Harris’s improvement

Harris’s 12 points on Saturday marked the 6th time in the last 7 games that the junior has finished in double-figures in the scoring department. Harris is also hauling in over 6 rebounds a contest during that same stretch. Jordan, who has to be the best athlete on the team, has emerged as a player that can create offense off the dribble from outside the paint, something this team was sorely lacking in the previous two-thirds of the season. If he continues to finish out this season strong, Harris has a realistic opportunity to be a regular double-digit contributor on next season’s team.

Rayshaun Hammonds foul tracker

With his 4 personal fouls on Saturday against LSU, Hammonds has now officially tied last season’s total of 81 PFs. The Dawgs have at least 7 games remaining (including the SEC tournament), so Hammonds has an extremely legitimate shot at committing over 100 PFs on the season, considering that he is averaging 3.7 a night in SEC play. The sophomore’s inability to stay on the court is perplexing because 1) he’s not an overly physical player and 2) he MUST realize his importance to this team. Hammonds netted 13 points against the Tigers yesterday, but he only logged 25 minutes of game time.

Box Score:

Last weekend Tom Crean said publicly that he basically made some mistakes in keeping some of the players on this Georgia Bulldog (10-14, 1-10) roster. I know he apologized, but that doesn’t erase the fact that the words were said and those thoughts existed (and maybe still do) in his mind.

Either way, I expected the Dawgs to come out with a little more fire than they showed on Tuesday night in College Station. I guess I presumed that some, or all, of those UGA players might want to prove Crean wrong.

Instead, Georgia mustered up just 56 points in the loss of a game that they could have stolen on the road against a Texas A&M (10-13, 3-8) team that has been decimated by injuries this season.

The Aggies played zone defense against UGA the entire game. This strategy by Coach Billy Kennedy seemed appropriate considering Georgia entered this contest last in the SEC in both field goal percentage (39.8%) and three-point percentage (30%) in league games.

There are basically two ways teams can exploit a zone: they can shoot the defense out of it or drive the ball to the soft spots to draw defenders and create opportunities. Georgia failed to employ either of those aforementioned tactics. The Dawgs shot an abysmal 3 for 23 from beyond the arc. Tyree Crump made only 2 of his 11 three-point attempts, with numerous of those shots coming from well beyond the line. UGA got outscored in the paint 36-28 in a game in which they had a distinct size advantage inside. Derek Ogbeide, who’s been this team’s best back-to-the basket offensive player, took only 4 shots; Rayshaun Hammonds, the team’s leading scorer, had just 3 attempts from the floor himself, and he finished with only 5 points and 3 turnovers.

The only Georgia player who held their own in this contest was Nic Claxton, who notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Georgia definitely played at a slower pace on Tuesday than we have seen in a while, and my guess is that was intentional on Crean’s part in an effort to limit turnovers, which it did as the Dawgs only coughed the ball up 12 times against the Aggies. However, Georgia’s execution on offense was an exhibition in futility, and honestly, it was painful to watch.

The Dawgs played a lot of zone defense themselves against A&M, particularly 2-3, which was most likely done in an attempt to take some pressure of the Georgia guards defensively. This look befuddled the Aggies for early on, but eventually A&M got comfortable offensively and buried 4 triples during the final stretch of the first half as they finished 45% from the field heading into the locker room with a 34-21 advantage.

The Aggies offensive rhythm continued to improve as the game progressed. Kennedy’s team pounded the ball inside to Christian Mekowulu, who responded with 15 points and 15 boards. Sophomore point guard T.J. Starks had his way with UGA for much of the night as he ended up with 19 points and 4 steals.

The dagger in this one came during a 7-0 Aggie run in the initial segment of the second half when Jay Jay Chandler sunk a triple to make it 47-29 A&M with a little over 14 minutes left in the game. Any Georgia fan who changed the channel at this point undoubtedly had a more pleasant Tuesday evening than the ones who stuck around to the end of this contest.

Rayshaun Hammonds foul tracker

The sophomore only committed 1 personal foul in College Station. He still has 77 on the year, but maybe he won’t completely destroy last year’s total of 81 PFs. At the half of this game, Hammonds had 0 points and 3 turnovers. As a stretch big, Hammonds should be the perfect fit for a system like Crean’s, yet he continues to play below expectations.

Box score:

I’m almost at the point where I feel like I could just hit copy/paste from the last game post, and it would pretty much cover everything that we witnessed in the latest contest. The Georgia Bulldogs (10-13, 1-9) got manhandled by Mississippi 80-64 on Saturday in Athens, and the usual culprits – ball security and poor defense – were responsible again for UGA’s demise.

The best part of this game by far was the initial 5 minutes of play in which UGA opened up an 18-8 lead while making 6 of their first 8 shots. Rayshaun Hammonds played particularly well during this stretch as he knocked down a pair of triples and scored a total of 8 points.

The next 14 minutes of play Tom Crean witnessed the wheels come off in the form of 13 turnovers by his squad. One especially sloppy span of offense occurred during consecutive possessions by Teshaun Hightower:

Hightower brought the ball across half court. Amanze Ngumezi came to the perimeter to set a high ball screen, but Hightower threw him a lob pass that soared into an Ole Miss defender’s hands.

Next possession, Hightower gave fans a repeat of play #1.

Next possession, Hightower dribble the ball directly to the wing and attempted to hand off the basketball to a UGA guard, but instead the ball was fumbled out of bounds.

The Dawgs are now turning the ball over on 22% of their possessions, which makes them 327 in the nation in that category.

Breein Tyree, who led all scorers with 31 points, put the Rebels up 25-22 when he hit a three-pointer with a little less than 10 minutes left in the first half, which capped off a 17-4 Ole Miss run. The Georgia offense during this abysmal 14-minute stretch managed just 10 points, and by the time Tyree Crump hit a triple with 1:36 left before the break, the Dawgs were trailing 41-31.

Georgia committed an eye-opening 16 first half turnovers (20 overall), which led to 16 points for Mississippi prior to the intermission. Georgia actually shot nearly 44% from the floor and matched the Rebels’ 7 three-pointers, but the 11 extra possessions were too much to overcome, and they resulted in a 45-33 halftime lead for the Rebels.

The Georgia defense, which is ranked last in the SEC in points allowed, continued to struggle with transition defense and weak side help rotations. The Dawgs’ defenders looked lost when the Rebels pushed the pace, which resulted in a plethora of open looks from beyond the arc; Ole Miss ended up with 9 three-pointers on the afternoon, one more than their SEC average. UGA continues to make teams look really good from the perimeter.

Georgia defenders, Jordan Harris aside, still refuse to provide help defense when opponents attack the rim. Much like in previous games this season, this contest featured multiple plays in which an Ole Miss guard drove the ball from outside the arc all the way to the rim, uncontested. The Rebels outscored Georgia in the paint 28-18, and a big reason for that was that the Dawgs make it super easy for opponents to attack the basket.

Maybe the most disappointing of all of UGA’s defensive shortcomings this afternoon was the Dawgs’ inability to protect the defensive glass. Georgia yielded 13 offensive rebounds to Mississippi, and the Rebels converted those into 21 second chance points (UGA had just 5).

Tom Crean’s postgame comment

The Athletic’s Seth Emerson provided this nugget that Crean gave to reporters after the game via Emerson’s Twitter feed:

Nothing like throwing your players under the bus in the midst of an 8-game SEC losing streak. This statement by Crean is confounding in so many ways. First, he took over the team in the spring; save a few super late signees, that probably weren’t D1 material, who did he envision might have been available to sign? Did he not watch film of this team last year and think to himself, “Ok, without Yante Maten, this group isn’t incredibly talented”? His expectations for this season were obviously not in line with talent level on his roster. Finally, how does he see this season finishing out after he makes such a negative public statement about the players on his roster?

Rayshaun Hammonds personal foul tracker

Hammonds fouled out of today’s game, and he now has 76 PFs on the season. The sophomore should easily surpass last season’s total of 81, quite possibly by next weekend. After netting 8 quick points in the first 5 minutes of this game, Hammonds scored just 2 more the rest of the way. The Dawgs’ leading scorer seems unaware of his importance to this team as he continues to commit fouls at a torrid pace.

Preseason predictions

Prior to the start of the season, Ole Miss was projected to finish last in the conference standings, just a slot behind Georgia. One of these teams has wildly exceeded expectations and is currently in position to make the NCAA tournament, and the other is UGA.

Box score:

This Georgia team’s biggest issue for the season has been turnovers, which were still a problem on Wednesday as the Dawgs coughed the ball up 13 times to Alabama, and the Crimson Tide managed to turn those mishaps into 22 points.

However, as of late, UGA’s defense has been its most limiting factor. They say that defense travels, but obviously, the Georgia D didn’t make this trip. Several days removed from allowing the South Carolina Gamecocks – one of the poorer shooting teams in the conference – to torch them from the perimeter with an 11 for 16 performance, the Dawgs once again struggled to defend the three-point line. The Tide connected on nearly 39% from beyond the arc, and none of those makes was more deadly than the 2 by Tevin Mack that allowed Bama to build up a double-digit lead (53-42) in just a little over 3 minutes into the second half.

The Dawgs are now last in the conference in scoring defense (80 ppg) in SEC play, and they are 3rd from the bottom in three-point percentage defense. Bama scoring 89 points means that Georgia has now yielded 80+ points to 3 of its last 4 conference opponents. Yikes!

But it’s not just the perimeter where UGA’s defense is failing. Alabama got WAY too many easy baskets around the rim because Georgia’s help defense continues to remain either too slow or disinterested. How many times did a Bama guard beat one of Georgia’s backcourt defenders and go all the way to the rim for a lay up? I lost count. The Tide scored 28 of its 41 first-half points in the paint, and they ended up with 48 points inside on the game. I’m not sure if Nicolas Claxton is playing more tentative to avoid getting in foul trouble, but he was certainly guilty of not rotating to help on multiple defensive possessions. Avery Johnson’s team made nearly 57% of its field goal attempts Wednesday, and that’s completely unacceptable. Winning on the road is almost impossible when the other team is scoring on 3 of every 5 possessions.

The first half of this game was fun, though, right? The pace was up tempo as the Dawgs and Tide played a back-and-forth 20 minutes in which both teams shot above 48% from the floor.

Alabama, however, proved that it could play defense when it needed to in the second half, when Georgia could not. The Tide limited UGA to just 34% from the floor in the second 20 minutes of play, and Johnson’s team forced the Dawgs into 7 more turnovers. UGA doesn’t have the offensive firepower this season to try to outscore teams for 40 minutes, save the Texas game, so Georgia better figure some things out defensively or the Dawgs could be stuck on 1 SEC win for quite a while.

Shout-out to…

Derek Ogbeide, despite playing through what has to be his most trying season at Georgia, continues to improve as the season progresses. Against the Tide, the senior led all UGA scorers with 17 points, marking his 4th consecutive SEC game in double-figures scoring.

Rayshaun Hammonds foul count

Last season, Hammonds tallied 81 personal fouls on the year. After Wednesday’s 4-foul performance, the sophomore now has 71 PFs this season, and he should have no trouble eclipsing last year’s total with 9 conference games remaining in the regular season. Hammonds had 13 points last night, but he played just 21 minutes. He’s this team’s best scoring option, yet Hammonds cannot manage to stay on the floor, which is definitely one of this year’s mysteries. I imagine this situation must be incredibly frustrating for Crean.

For the final 4 minutes of this game, Georgia (10-11, 1-7) played solid base defense against the South Carolina Gamecocks. USC’s last 5 possessions before UGA was forced to foul looked like this: turnover, three-pointer, turnover, turnover and missed shot. That’s some impressive defense at crunch time, and for that the Dawgs deserve a lot of credit. Had Georgia secured the missed jumper by Hassani Gravett with less than a minute left and the Gamecocks leading 83-80, UGA would have had chance to tie the game. The Georgia defense put this team in a position to win at the end of this contest.

The problem, however, was that the Dawgs looked perplexed defensively for the previous 36 minutes. Defensive rotations were too slow and sometimes nonexistent. How else do you explain allowing the SEC’s 11th best three-point shooting team (32%) to go 11 for 16 from the perimeter? Carolina buried nearly double the number of triples they had been averaging a night in league play, and on the road no less. In the first half, USC’s guards hit 3 three-pointers from the corner baseline spot that were painfully uncontested.

In his post game, Tom Crean had the following to say regarding the perimeter defense:

“We are improving. But we have got to stop hurting ourselves with not getting our hands up, with not communicating the switch.”

I wholeheartedly agree. However, Crean might want to be a little more liberal with his timeouts in the future because he could use them to remind his players of all of these things he discussed in his press conference. South Carolina is a terrible three-point shooting team, but even average shooters can be made to appear better than they are when their looks to the basket are basically unimpeded. The Dawgs may be handicapped offensively due to a dearth of talent in the ball handling department, but all of these players should be capable of playing sound defense for 40 minutes.

To be fair, there wasn’t much defense being played by either team on Saturday, which should have been expected since the Gamecocks entered this contest with the worst team scoring defense (79.3) in SEC play and Georgia the second-worst (77.9).

That last possession by Georgia was a real head-scratcher. Considering that Crean removed his team’s best perimeter shooter, Tyree Crump, in favor of Derek Ogbeide, I assumed that the Dawgs were going to attack the basket as they trailed 85-80 with just 33 ticks remaining. Instead, both Turtle Jackson and Nicolas Claxton tossed up clunkers from the beyond the arc, and the Gamecocks corralled the 4th miss to earn another trip to the free throw line. Game over. Carolina wins 86-80.

A special shout out goes to the Georgia bench for performing admirably this afternoon. The Dawgs reserves outscored the Carolina bench 36-22, and they played a key role in helping UGA close an early double-digit deficit. Derek Ogbeide led all Georgia scorers with 16 points to go along with 7 rebounds, and today’s game marked his third straight SEC contest in which he has finished in double-figures in scoring.

Jordan Harris, who missed the last two games with concussion symptoms, gave Crean his best minutes of the season as he notched 11 points off the bench. Harris played with a lot of intensity, and his athleticism is hard to miss – he’s always around the ball as he secured 6 boards and forced 4 steals.

Looking ahead, it’s hard not to speculate on just how many conference games this team can win. The Dawgs have multiple ranked opponents still scheduled to travel to Athens, and all of those contests will be challenging for this team. At this point, it’s hard to envision this bunch winning an SEC road game (although I would LOVE to be proven wrong).

Georgia’s worst conference performances in the past 20 years were Dennis Felton’s final season, in which that team won 3 SEC games, and his second year in Athens when the Dawgs managed just 2 league victories during the regular season. My best estimation, and again, I pray that I am incorrect, is that this team will not eclipse 3 conference wins this year.

On Tuesday night, the Georgia Bulldogs (10-10, 1-6) returned to both conference play as well as the offensive woes that have plagued them for much of the SEC slate. That team that shot over 70% from beyond the arc and nearly 67% from the floor last Saturday against Texas? Vanished. The UGA team in Bud Walton arena much more resembled the one that entered this contest near the bottom of the league in offensive output at just 65 ppg in SEC games.

How does this type of metamorphosis occur? My best postulation is that the 98-point outburst was a combination of an insanely hot Georgia team and a somewhat disinterested bunch of Longhorns.

Let me be clear: winning on the road in conference play is difficult. However, the task of earning a victory away from home becomes even more arduous when a team cannot protect the basketball and its star players fail to show themselves in the game’s critical moments, both of which occurred on Tuesday.

UGA got to out to an amazing start in this game as they jumped on the Razorbacks early and built up an 11-2 lead in the first 5 minutes. The Dawgs played with a lot of intensity and were extremely active around the ball and attacking the offensive glass, where Georgia notched 7 of its initial 11 points on second-chance opportunities.

However, eventually the Hogs started putting the ball in the basket themselves, and that enabled Mike Anderson’s team to set up its full court pressure. This past weekend I excused a portion of Georgia’s 26 turnovers due to the style of play that Crean wants this team to play at offensively. On Tuesday, though, the turnovers were caused more by UGA’s inability to deal with the Arkansas pressure than Georgia trying to create scoring opportunities on the offensive end.

The Razorback guards dictated UGA’s offense on Tuesday, and that’s not an effective way for Georgia, or any team, to play basketball. The Dawgs had 10 turnovers at the half, which allowed Arkansas to take a 31-29 advantage into the break. UGA gave the ball away 16 times on the night, and those were costly as they resulted in 16 Razorback points. The trend of Georgia struggling against intense defensive pressure due to its lack of a true point guard continued on Tuesday evening, and expect this course to persist until someone on Tom Crean’s team steps up and starts putting defenders on their heels (note: I don’t expect this to happen this season).

Alright, alright. Enough about the turnovers.

Let’s talk about Georgia’s lack of a true go-to guy. Who on this team can Crean count on to facilitate offense and score when the game is on the line? The answer, quite simply, is no one. For a 6’9″ guy, Hammonds continues to struggle with physicality around the basket, and he seems to prefer playing more of a stretch four. Nic Claxton can throw down some ferocious dunks, off of both misses and cuts; but he doesn’t yet have the ability to square up and take his defender off the dribble or on the block when he receives the ball with his back to the basket.

I mean, this game was tied 52-52 with a little over 6 minutes left. It was most certainly winnable. But while Mike Anderson’s players started to elevate their game down the final stretch, here is what UGA’s three leading scorers produced:

Rayshaun Hammonds: 0 points, 0-3 FG, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 fouls

Nic Claxton: 2 points, 1-2 FG, 1 rebound, 1 foul, 1 turnover

Tyree Crump: 3 points, 1-3 FG, 1 rebound, 1 foul

This is money time, game on the line, and Georgia’s best offensive players mustered a combined 5 points during the final 6:23? That’s just not going to cut it on the road, and it’s a fairly big indicator of why UGA took an L in Fayetteville on Tuesday.

Bright spots:

Turtle Jackson had another solid game as he chipped in double-figure points (11) again.

Derek Ogbeide continues to provide offense off the bench as he notched 14 points against the Hogs.

Not many teams can turn the ball over 26 times and win by double-digits while almost eclipsing the century mark in points. Seriously, what UGA did today offensively was quite remarkable considering Texas entered this contest with the 36th best scoring defense in the country, at just over 65 points a game.

Obviously, the Dawgs were too careless with the basketball this afternoon, and it did hurt them as the Longhorns scored 26 points off turnovers. But, UGA fans must understand that Tom Crean wants this team to play up tempo every possession, and that doesn’t just mean that Georgia is moving the ball up and down the court at a fast pace (which it most certainly is). Crean wants the ball going in and out of players’ hands; he doesn’t want guys to hold the ball for too long because that gives the defense a chance to react. Furthermore, Crean also has his guys constantly cutting without the ball. All this motion, both with and without the ball, is going to result in additional turnovers, as it did today, and the giveaways will most likely continue as long as Georgia plays without a true point guard.

However, the Dawgs also dished out 25 team assists, shot nearly 71% from beyond the arc and hit 67% from the floor. So while the game felt sloppy at times, a lot of positives occured as well due to Crean’s style of play, and it’s clear he’s willing to live this way.

Playing fast is a good look for this Georgia team because it takes the pressure off the guards from having to facilitate offense in the halfcourt, which is much more difficult when a team’s major weakness, like UGA’s, is its backcourt. Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida and, to some extent, Auburn were all able to dictate Georgia’s pace by being the aggressors and applying pressure the length of the court. The Dawgs shot under 40% in all of those games except for the one on The Plains. Crean’s team will still be leading the SEC in turnovers per game after today, but I truly believe he has them in an offensive system that gives them the best chance to be successful this season.

The first half was fun, but…

I actually found the second half even more satisfying. UGA hit 8 of 12 three-pointers prior to the break, yet they still went into the locker room tied with Texas at 46 apiece. Georgia had only scored 12 points in the paint to Texas’s 20 prior to the intermission, and I definitely felt unsure as to where the Dawgs’ scoring would come from once the shots stopped falling from beyond the arc.

Oddly, UGA only shot 5 more three-pointers in the game’s final 20 minutes (of which they made 4). Instead, Georgia started to attack the rim, and they scored 22 points in the paint and connected on 16 of 18 free throws. The Dawgs shot a blistering 76% from the floor in the second half, another reason why they were able to win this game despite the turnovers.

The one stretch of game where Georgia was certainly on the verge of crumbling occurred around the midway point of the second half. With 12:28 remaining, UGA took a 68-60 lead on a jumper by Rayshaun Hammonds. It felt like Georgia was stuck on 68 for an eternity, and when Dylan Osetkowski put back one of his teammates’ misses, his Texas team had cut the UGA advantage to 70-66 with 8:27 left. During this agonizing 4 minutes of game, the Dawgs went 1 for 3 from the floor and gave the ball away 4 times. This seemed like it would be the moment when Texas would ride its momentum and seize the lead.

Instead, Tom Crean’s team connected on 5 straight field goals, including triples by Tyree Crump and Nic Claxton, and hit 4 of 5 from the line to build its lead to 87-75, which proved to be insurmountable for Shaka Smart’s team.

Foul trouble again for Rayshaun Hammonds

Hammonds had a productive afternoon as he scored 14 points and grabbed 9 boards in 29 minutes of play. However, the sophomore fouled out of today’s game, and he continues to trend upwards in the number personal fouls he accrues per contest. Hammonds, who averaged 24 minutes per game last year as well, committed 81 personal fouls all last season; he already has 62 this year, and the reason for the uptick in fouls is inexplicable considering that Hammonds must be aware of how little depth Georgia has behind him.

Welcome back Tyree

Tyree Crump’s 6 three-pointers were a career best for him in a game as a Georgia Bulldog. The junior now has 35 triples on the season, and he needs just 10 more to surpass last season’s total.

Today’s outburst will hopefully be the catalyst to get Crump out of a recent slump that saw him score 14 points over his last 3 games, all of them losses for the Dawgs.